Saturday, April 21, 2012

I was finally able to convince Hubby to extend the quilting setup I am looking after for my SIL.

It is actually a short-arm quilting machine….I have only done a little bit of practice so far and it has been here since the beginning of the year…what a waste, right?!

Then I realised I didn’t have anything ready to quilt. So I been busy finishing off a couple of tops.

This is the star quilt from Quilting From Little Things…I am pretty happy with how it has turned out…I am a bit worried about the seam joining the stars to the first border, in some places – were the star-arms join the border – the seam allowance is cutting it a bit fine…might iron some interfacing to the back for extra support.

I finally put the border on this sampler quilt. I think she will be my first quilting victim ;) I mean my first customer!

Just need to join the backing fabric and I am right to go…I will try to do that tomorrow and get her loaded on the machine.

I whipped up these cute little coasters for my neighbour….a thank you for a beautiful beehive ginger and a very enjoyable afternoon tea!

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

It is in the latest Down Under Quilts magazine….you can get a free digital subscription at Creative Living Media. How awesome is that - it is free!

One of the very first patchwork shops I ever went into was Gail’s Patchwork Emporium. Ever since then every other patchwork shop has had to measure up to Gail’s!

This shop had it all – fantastic unique building, absolutely stunning interior and Oh my, the fabric!

Last October Gail’s burnt down (not only the shop but also their living quarters too)…when I found out I was devastated. But showing true strength and spirit they are rebuilding and it will be bigger and better than ever!

Sunday, April 15, 2012

This morning has been spent cleaning floors and decluttering junk from everywhere! While it all looked quite good and clean I thought I would take some photos and show you how the tiles look.

I will start with some before photos that are a bit scary!

This is the kitchen that was in the house when we moved here….sort of….we had redone the splashback and taken out some cupboards to fit in the dishwasher and put all that junk on the bench before this pic was taken!

Oh and we had redone the ceiling….imagine the timber cupboards on the ceiling - That is what it looked like! Yuck!

Then the kitchen was taken out, we built in the hallway to make a walk in pantry and walls were removed, rebuilt and rearranged!

All this work in the last 2 photos happened in the 2nd half of 2010. So, believe me this did not happen over night!

We moved here in November 2004. The extension for hubbies parents was started in 2007….everyone hoped it would be finished before BW was born in July 2008 but it took longer….I think it was 2009 when their part of the extension was completely finished.

We are still working on finishing our place off. This is what it looks like now!

The kitchen (cabinets were put in November 2010)….just needs a few finishing touches now…painting and tile edges.

This is the lounge and front door, which used to be the dining room. The cathedral ceiling was done as part of the extension and this room was made about 4 metres longer.

A few more finishing touches to do here…the linen cupboard needs doors, walls need painting and skirting boards.

This is the dining room, which used to be the sitting room with the fireplace where the bakers stand is now. Confused?!

You can still see a lot of the old house here – the paintwork and architrave which will all be updated so a bit more work needs to be done at this end of the house.

The doorway into the kitchen is where the stove is in the very first picture…because we built the hallway in to make the pantry the only way to get through to the dining room and bathroom etc is through the kitchen so we have tried to keep it wide and open.

There is still lots to do – inside and outside! The sewing and office area still has a bit of tiling to be done….

Really are renovations ever truly finished? I hope so….but I know it will be a while yet!

Monday, April 9, 2012

Yesterday I had the overwhelming urge to finish something…do you get those? Maybe it’s just me because I get to the sandwiching stage and for some reason the quilt/table runner/whatever gets put away in the cupboard.

So, this table runner that I pulled out even had the backing cut and the binding made ready to go! What is wrong with me?! It only took a couple of hours to finish!

Honestly I am ready to give up on photography, I just can not get a decent photo! I will take it outside tomorrow to get some better photos for you!

I wanted to show you my new-to-me sideboard that motivated me to finish the runner! It was my grandmothers, I love having special things that belonged to my grandparents!

A close up of the stitchery. This runner is a pattern by Jenny of Elefantz and it is called Oopsie Daisy Runner. I did change it a bit but I think most of us do that!

Today I laid out the Star quilt to start putting it together…I told BW I am going to call this the Headache quilt and he laughed…seriously it is like putting a puzzle together with a million inset seams!

And I thought I might show you a corner of my sewing space!

The table I use also belonged to my grandmother but from my dads side…I love this table and the top is beautiful and glossy which is why I have a special ugly brown cloth covering it.

Looking at the photo now I see junk I didn’t notice before but that is life! I have kids! I would love to make myself a new sewing machine mat and thread catcher/bin too one day!

Now I’m off to make dinner and then I might do some more on the stars later tonight!

Saturday, April 7, 2012

So not much sewing has been happening here for a few days. We have all been sick, really it has taken a few weeks to get around everyone with it starting off with TP – I think he picked it up from school….it just starts out as a cough, we don’t think it is Whooping cough because Hubby had that last year and this is different. Anyway the boys are now better, it is just us adults that it is hanging on too.

There has been some more great incoming goodness though!

This is some fat 1/4s from the Feather and Stitch range that I won over at The Elven Garden. Thanks heaps Jess they are awesome!

And I have been meaning to share some sewing that I did on our holiday. I didn’t take my sewing machine so I thought I would try some hand piecing….I actually really enjoyed the process!

These are my first attempts…and they haven’t been pressed yet, I just kept them in to book to flatten them. The book is Playful Patchwork by Suzuko Koseki and she gives great instructions for hand piecing.

Does anyone else have this book? I am thinking about trying to do one block a month – challenge myself! Do you want to sew along?

Sunday, April 1, 2012

This weekend has been a great weekend for sewing! The boys have been hanging out with their Aunt and Grandma a lot which has given me some quiet time….Awesome!

And for some reason when Hubby isn’t here I get soooo much more stuff done! For example yesterday I had swept and mopped the floors, done the dishwasher, started the clothes washer and was ready to sew by about 9am….that is unbelievable!

So on Friday I was sitting looking at my sewing stuff thinking “I am so frustrated because I want to sew quilts but I get caught up making little things” so I started a quilt that has been waiting for some lovin’ for months…

The book is Sarah Fielke’s Quilting From Little Things. This box of fabric has been tucked away for ages so it was great untying the jelly roll and getting started!

That was Friday and this is where I am at today as of about 1pm…

It is kinda hard to see but there are 11 full stars and 2 half stars here all done! Yay!

One jelly roll wasn’t enough so I added 20 more strips from my stash….makes it a bit more scrappy!

Did you know Kate Spain’s selvages say “For Personal Use Only”….so does that mean I can’t use the scraps in my notebook covers? And what if I wanted to sell the quilt when it is finished? Found this out over here – Leah has written an awesome post on copyright, well worth a read!

BTW….don’t the tiles look great?! So much more cleaner looking!

I stopped working on the quilt so that I could get some looong overdue bee blocks done.

These are Waverlee’s for February in the QCA Bee #2. Can you tell I am desperate for a new camera? This one is taking shocking photos.